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OMAHA, Neb. After Saturday night’s 5-4 loss the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against the Florida State baseball team winning the 2017 national championship.

So much so that it doesn’t even make sense to write what I’m about to write. But then again, nothing about this season has made sense for the Seminoles so why start being logical now?

Here’s what I’ve always believed about this program: If and when it actually brings a College World Series title back to Tallahassee it will be from this exact position.

The Seminoles will lose the first game (check), fans and media will completely give up on them (check) and they’ll have to go on the run of all unexpected runs to give Mike Martin his first national title.

I liken it to the Boston Red Sox in 2004. Getting down 3-0 to the New York Yankees and then storming back to win the series was the ONLY way they were ever going to break the curse.

Florida State losing Game 1 (because that’s what Florida State does out here) and being in a bracket of death with the likes of Oregon State and LSU seems like exactly what the Seminoles need to exorcise their Omaha demons.

Far-fetched? Yeah. Maybe.

I mean, not only does Florida State have to beat Cal State Fullerton on Monday just to stay alive then they’re going to have to beat the combination of LSU and Oregon State three straight times to advance to the championship series. Those two have won a combined 39 straight games heading into Monday night’s winner’s bracket showdown.

See what I mean?

The odds are stacked. Like to the point that it’s worthy of an eye roll just to think about the Seminoles getting through that gauntlet. Oregon State is 55-4 this season. Florida State would have to beat the Beavers at least once and possibly twice.

So yeah. Not likely. Got it.

But it also wasn’t likely FSU would even be out here a month ago.

And two weeks ago, when the Seminoles lost to Tennessee Tech in the regional opener, advancing to the Super Regionals seemed like a ridiculous notion.

So it’s fitting that the 2017 Seminoles, the ones who have been given up for dead multiple times this season, find themselves right back in the grave. With people again piling dirt on their season.

“Absolutely,” FSU senior Quincy Nieporte said. “If we’re going to do it it’s not going to be easy. And nobody wanted it to be easy. We’re here for a reason. There are eight of the best teams in the nation here and it’s definitely going to be fun.

“I said it last night after the loss: This is what we wanted anyway. We wanted more drama. We wanted to make it more dramatic and just stay together and see what happens and see where it takes us.”

That probably sounds like a player saying what he’s supposed to say: That he hasn’t given up on the season and that he believes in his teammates. And that anything is possible. All of that.

But with this specific Florida State team I think losing Game 1 – even in excruciating fashion – wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Now the Seminoles can play carefree again. No expectations. No championship pressure.

Just try to have fun and enjoy the moment. Maybe get hot. Maybe pull some upsets. Maybe make some history.

“It’s not what we wanted for sure,” FSU senior Matt Henderson said of the Game 1 loss. “But it’s definitely fitting … And we’ve handled adversity all year.”

Let me make this very clear: I don’t think the Seminoles are winning the 2017 national championship.

It’s one thing to storm back in a regional, at home, against the likes of UCF, Tennessee Tech and an Auburn team that had run out of starting pitching.

It’s an entirely different matter to win four straight games at the College World Series against teams that are more talented than you. It’s not impossible. But it’s certainly not anywhere close to probable.

Like I mentioned earlier though, if this thing is ever going to happen, it’s going to be an improbable run that proves everyone wrong. And what would be more improbable than this team, in this hole, against this side of the bracket, getting hot and stunning the college baseball world?

“I’m not afraid,” Martin said, “of us going out and doing anything but just battling our butts off. … Our guys understand where we are. I’ve seen what we can do.

“I know what this ball club is made of and I know they’re going to go out there and scrap.”